Physical education

Photograph taken in 1932 of female archers within the Dickinson College's Physical Education Department. It can be found in the Josephine Meredith Scrapbooks as well as in the 1932 Microcosm, page 234. In the back row, left to right, are Eleanor F. Peters '34, Mary E. Bell '36, Jeanne C. Whittaker '33, Dorothy Hillig '33, (and in front, left to right) Elizabeth M. Pyles '34, Helen M. Epler '34, and Mary L. Loy '31.

Photograph circa 1935 of women's archery practice.

Assistant professor of physical education, Katherine Barber, reveals her feelings about the practice of co-ed physical education classes in an interview.  Barber says that the idea is effective; “girls work harder to not bomb out in front of the guys [and] the men show up more.”  She also says that the situation is more interesting to teach in and that the program that is in use, is making athletics become appreciated.  However, Barber does mention surviving inequalities; men are provided with practice clothes and more liberty with athletic facilities while women are not.  Yet all in all, i

In her memoir recounting her time at Dickinson, Elizabeth Low remembers her women's gym class. According to Low, women's gym classes were "even worse" than men's gym classes. Low explained, "Gym came two days in succession, and we were so stiff we could scarcely move, and by the time we were limbered up, it was gym day again." Moreover, women's gym classes greatly differed from men's as the college believed that female students were "'too delicately adjusted.'" Instead, the gym instructor had the women sort yarn.

Girls sports were conducted on the intramural plan under the guidance and supervision of the Director of Physical Education for Women at Dickinson College, Miss E Winifred Chapman. Hockey, indoor and outdoor archery, swimming, tennis, basketball, riding and volleyball. Volleyball was newly inroduced as a sport. A playing field was devoted to the girls' use for hockey and archery.  Every woman was required to complete two hours a week from any of the sports. The facilities had greatly improved in the last few years. The Athletic Council, along with Miss Chapman, supervise all sports.

In 1933 the Microcosm reported that each female student was required to participate in two hours a week of the intramural sports offered. In the fall the choices were: hockey, outdoor archery, swimming, tennis, and horseback riding; in the winter: swimming, basketball, and indoor archery; and in the spring: tennis, volleyball, swimming, and riding. Miss Winifred E.

This Saturday event was sponsored by the Department of Physical Education for the Women and Athletic Council.  The program included photo opportunities and three games of an identified sport in the morning, followed by a luncheon at the Argonne Hotel, a Round Table Discussion of some type in the Alumni Gymnasium, a swimming event, and a concluding tea in the Women's Apartments in Denny Hall.  Participating colleges included Lebanon Valley, Bucknell, Susquehanna, Juniata, and Dickinson Colleges.  Several students served as "chairmen" of various committees, including Margaret Brinham '38 (Gen

In her 1905 oration "Dickinson's New Era," Florence Hensel Bursk argues for improved conditions for female students at Dickinson College. Following the Denny Hall fire of 1905, alumnea and friends of the college began donating to the restoration of the hall and the overall insitution. Bursk asserted that such contributions engendered the "birth of a new era" at Dickinson College. Despite the great strides being made by Dickinson during this period, Bursk argued that conditions for female students were lacking.